Nicolas Roegs Bad Timing Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Nicolas Roegs Bad Timing - Movie Review Example It's a completely different discipline, it exists on its own. I would say that the beauty of it is it's not the theater, it's not done over again. It's done in bits and pieces. Things are happening which you can't get again." When the French poet, theorist-filmmaker, Jean Epstein, first delivered his concept of Photogenie to Parisian salons and academic circles at the Sorbonne in 1923 and 1924, film as an art form was in its infancy. The whole idea of film as a medium worthy of serious scholarship, along with the evolution of the auteur theory, was still decades off. Yet, the seeds were planted and if it wasn't for his early, groundbreaking works, (or in Walter Benjamin's case, "shocking" words), we wouldn't have the concept of "independent film" or cinema as an art form onto itself, something we often take for granted today. The films of director Nicolas Roeg, taken as a whole, have been read as experimental, voyeuristic, brilliant and bombastic. Roeg started out working in the British film industry in London and developed his craft working as a camera assistant. He ended up heading second units on two films for director David Lean, the epic masterpieces, Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago. Roeg then went on to win high acclaim in his own right as the cinematographer of the classic films; Fahrenheit 451, Far From the Madding Crowd and Petulia, for the influential directors; Francois Truffaut, John Schlesinger, and Richard Lester. When Roeg decided it was time to direct his own films, he proceeded with an instinctual knowledge of what he wanted. It is with this sensibility, a way of pursuing his craft by what appeals to the senses, that he approached the film Bad Timing : A Sensual Obsession, a work that many have argued is one of his best, along side the classic Don't Look Now. I will pursue, in this paper, how Epstein's concept of photogenie and Walter Benjamin's idea of the "optical unconscious", from his essay, "The Work of Art in the Age of Technological Reproducibility"2, are seminal to the work of Roeg in the film Bad Timing; in his use of the camera, his approach to the actors (especially in relationship in their use of props), his development of the story in his editing choices and in the final "re-structuring" of the film. Jean Epstein defined his concept of "photogenie", first coined by Lois Delluc as "the art of cinema", as "any aspect of things, beings or souls whose moral character is enhanced by filmic reproduction". He goes on to say: "The mind travels in time, just as it does in space. But whereas in space we imagine three directions at right angles to each other, in time we conceive only one: the past-future vector. We can conceive a space-time system in which the past-future direction also passes through the point of intersection of the three acknowledged spatial directions, at the precise moment when it is between past and future: the present, a point in time, an instant without duration, as

Doing Business in Europe, Asia and the Americas Research Paper

Doing Business in Europe, Asia and the Americas - Research Paper Example Typically, these consisted independent operations in the handle of an expatriate. In its proliferation, the facilitation of information flow prompted the creation of offshore headquarters which functioned isolate of the local core group (Barber, J. P. 2002, pp.1-5). However, these international structures had about one third of the offshore venture in the form of shared ownership (Casseres 2006, p. 4). What firms manifest these days is cognizant of the global outlook. Less differentiation is placed on the local operations vis-a-vis the international division. Strategic structures shift authority and responsibility to the central domain, without the former 'single line authority' in force, rather a multiple lines responsibility (Barber, J. P. 2002, pp.1-5). Sheer size is given importance in the new corporate international strategy (Egelhoff 1988, p. 1-14). These firms have similar and complimenting features, when combined can operate more competently. They are alike because each is an industry icon that spells out of a history of corporate prestige. In the same way these firms compliment, having pursued a different market position in product lines such as novelty brands Oreo cookies over dairy milk chocolate. Cadbury and Kraft supplement one another in geographical footprint, thus distribution lines are less redundant, if not broadened (Beaudin, 2010). In the context and analysis of industry, a pair of firms can operate more competently when combined. In fact, dissimilar capabilities are often synchronized in the manufacture of opposite goods (Casseres 2006, p. 8-12). Acquisitions improve efficiency by seizure of synergies between firms (Crosoni, Gomes, McGinn, & Noth 2004, p.481-512). When put together, Cadbury-Kraft becomes an industry powerhouse. Both sum up an unrivalled portfolio of tremendous potential (The Independent 2010, sc. 2-4). The long term forecast revenues are estimated at a strait annual 5% upward trend in revenues and company growth at 9-11%. On its own, Kraft revenues rises at about 4% with company growth of 7- 9%. A prolonged growth in revenues determines annual cost savings of $625 million (Value Expectations 2010, sc. 1-3). It is argued that such transformation creates larger economies of scale higher and larger geographical markets (Lambrecht 2000, p.1-4). The takeover is meant to reshape market competition, imposing influence on emerging markets. The industry for chocolate and sweets is quite gaping and loosely split between international conglomerates: Mars, Wrigley, Kraft, Hershey, Ferrero and Nestl (Beaudin 2010, sc. 1-4). By the acquisition of Cadbury, Kraft assumes to suppress rivalry by the bundle of capabilities (Casseres 2006, p. 8-12). In other words, the industry turns out to be less competitive and too concentrated (Crosoni, Gomes, McGinn, & Noth 2004, p.481-512). And why global shares are expected to rise by 5% points from the estimated 20% holding for both firms (Value Expectations 2010, sc. 1-3). Takeovers can reduce production costs at minimal or result in